January 18, 2011

Apple Launches Patent Infringement Lawsuit against 3S Graphics

Apple has initiated a patent infringement lawsuit against S3 Graphics, Inc. a Cayman Islands Corporation and S3 Graphics, Inc. a Delaware Corporation in the Northern District of California. The summons dated January 13, 2011 was issued and revealed today. At the moment the details are a little sketchy.

Details: Apple's Complaint is not yet available for Full Review

While Apple's filed complaint has yet to be made public, it appears that Apple's complaint will be for Declaratory Judgment of Non-Infringement and Invalidity of Patents. Which patents are being challenged is unknown at this time.

A declaratory judgment is typically requested when a party is threatened with a lawsuit but the lawsuit has not yet been filed; or when it is thought by one of two (or more) parties that their rights under law and/or contract might conflict; or as part of a counterclaim to prevent further, similar lawsuits from the same plaintiff.

Apple has filed their complaint with the Northern District of California as S3 is headquartered in Fremont, California. S3Graphics is a provider of graphics visualization technologies for the notebook and desktop markets and creates video cores for discrete and integrated applications in the mobile, desktop, and embedded markets.

Summons Issued

Below is a copy of the summons issued to S3 Graphics (Cayman Islands and Delaware). Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd has been assigned this case.

The Civil Cover Sheet

S3 Graphics Struck First

It should be noted that on May 28, 2010, S3 Graphics, Inc. of Fremont, California filed a complaint against Apple requesting that the ITC commence an investigation. The complaint alleged that Apple provides an SDK specifically adapted for use with Apple computers to compress and decompress image data files using the technology disclosed and claimed in the Asserted Patents, and that Apple's SDK and computers generate encoded image files in the format disclosed and claimed in the Asserted Patents. Their complaint at the time involved the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

If the complaint is made public today, Patently Apple will update this report. If the complaint is revealed at a later time, a separate report may be posted.

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